Changing the Sky
by HathorCol
Summary: Jack, a telescope, a beer and a changed sky. Set directly after Threshold.


TITLE: Changing the Sky  
  
AUTHOR: Hathor  
  
E-MAIL: hathor_sgc@hotmail.com  
  
RATING: G  
  
PAIRING: Very, very, VERY slight Sam/Daniel. A passing mention at best.  
  
CONTENT WARNING: None  
  
CATERGORY: Episode Continuation  
  
SUMMARY: Jack, a telescope, a beer, and a changed sky.  
  
SPOILERS: Exodus, Enemies, Threshold, slight Small Victories and Nemesis spoilers  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Stargate. It owns me. Stargate does belong to lots of nice people at Showtime, Sci-Fi, Gekko Productions, Double Line Productions, and lots of other people who are a helluva lot of richer than me. For this reason, can they not sue because I'm a poor 15 year old who's getting no money from this.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This has been buzzing around my head ever since we did the solar system, stars and the speed of light in physics. First lesson I've listened to for a while.. Apologies for any inaccuracies in scientific knowledge. Blame my physics textbook, it's where I took it all from. Big thanks to the members of jackfic who so kindly helped me with some scientific doodad about Vorash. Set directly after Threshold. Feedback loved. Flames will be used to make sausages, tomatoes and NICE CRISPY BACON!  
  
*/*/*/*/*/  
  
(//--\\ denotes flashback to earlier scene in show)  
  
It was a good night for stargazing. Clear, cold, and no worries in the world, if only for a few hours. And hell, he needed that time. To say the least, Colonel Jack O'Neill was exhausted.  
  
It had been a long, long, LONG week. It had started off so promisingly- the Tok'ra owing the SGC a big favour for the loan of the mother ship. That in itself was enough to keep him smiling- the Air Force FINALLY had something that they didn't.  
  
It had gone a wrong after that, of course. The mother ship, which had been the property of the US Air Force for such a short amount of time, had been destroyed before the scientists even got within sniffing distance; Teal'c had gone dark side; Replicators had (once again, Jack noted absently) nearly got a foothold on their galaxy. Despite the few positive outcomes of the week, such as Teal'c turning back to their side, the death of Apophis and kicking some major Replicator ass, had left O'Neill decidedly drained and in desperate need of a weekend off.  
  
So that was just what he was doing, and relishing every moment. A clear night, a cold beer and a comfy lounger was what Jack had been silently craving, and now he was able to satiate that craving.  
  
Settling back, Jack adjusted his telescope happy in the knowledge that, at least for now, his team, planet and galaxy was safe. Teal'c was with Bra'tac in the Infirmary, and Sam and Daniel were- somewhere. They hadn't really specified, but they both seemed happy enough.  
  
//"No. I've just never blown up a star before."  
  
"Well, they say the first ones the hardest."\\  
  
As the remnants of a conversation that seemed to have taken place eons ago flashed across his mind, Jack's hand started to move seemingly without the help of his brain, moving to the area of space where Vorash's star was- or at least had been. Filled with curiosity, Jack put his eye to the telescope to see.  
  
That the sky hadn't changed.  
  
That, at least, was to be expected. The system in which Vorash had resided was over 300 light-years away, so fairly obviously the light- or lack thereof- wouldn't have reached Earth yet. Still, Jack had hoped.  
  
He had changed the sky that night. Despite the fact it wouldn't happen for over a thousand years, it was the kind of effect that Earth would notice. Perhaps not all of Earth, and perhaps not right away, but in the year 2300 people would look up at that small area of space, and wonder why the sky had changed. It made Jack oddly proud. Yes, he had done things for country and planet that would affect all of Earth's history to come, but it wasn't something tangible. In 300 years it would be mere legend, the tale of a silver-haired colonel.  
  
But the sky never changed, not really. It evolved and expanded, but the stars themselves were so long-lived they were permanent fixtures in man's psyche, a familiar sight on a lonely night, comforting and reassuring. He had first looked at the stars when Charlie was born, and he was forced to spend time apart on military action in various parts of the world. It was then he had first mapped the stars across the sky in his minds eye. Later, he had come to know the names and places of the stars. And you never forget your first impression of anything, do you? That first impression of an endless distance of stars, places so far out of reach that they barely seemed real, more an illusion created by ones own mind, an illusion no amount of knowledge could shatter.  
  
Of course, back then Jack had no idea that he would be up there among the bright and distant lights of the heavens. He just knew that it was a comfort to look up at the sky and know that somewhere, back safe at home, Charlie and Sara were looking up at the same stars.  
  
//"No. I've just never blown up a star before."  
  
"Well, they say the first ones the hardest."\\  
  
And one day, people would look up at a changed sky, and it would be all be thanks no Jack. Smiling, Jack leaned back and adjusted his telescope. It was a good night for stargazing.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
*Okay. I'm thick. Thanks to Kar, who quite rightly told me I HAD got some scientific doodad stuff wrong. For that reason, reposting with a very slight alteration. Sorry, Carter, I'm bad at science!* 


End file.
